hydrolysis

Etymology

It is formed from English hydro- + -lysis,^[2][3][4][5] which Merriam-Webster treats as International Scientific Vocabulary.^[6][7] The OED gives the sources as Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr, “water”), combining form ὑδρο- (hudro-), and λύσις (lúsis, “dissolving”),^[8] a loosening or dissolution,^[4][9] from λύω (lúō, “to loosen, dissolve”),^[8][5][4] from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to loosen, divide, cut apart”).^[5] The adjective hydrolytic is recorded a little earlier, from 1875.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chemical decomposition by water: 1880, in H. E. Armstrong's Introduction to the Study of Organic Chemistry,^[8][4][6] although Etymonline dates the noun 1879.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word has stayed a technical term of chemistry.^[2][10] The OED defines it as any reaction in which a bond is broken by water and the hydrogen and hydroxyl of the water attach separately to the two parts.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that some kinds of hydration are often counted as hydrolysis as well,^[6][7] and the Shorter Oxford extends it to an analogous breakdown of an organic compound.^[2]

Timeline

• 1880 – chemical decomposition of a compound by reaction with water.^[8][4][6] Etymonline gives 1879.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chemical reaction in which a compound reacts with water, a bond in it is broken, and the hydrogen and hydroxyl of the water attach to the resulting products: the hydrolysis of an ester into an acid and an alcohol.^{[11][6][8][2]}

Word family

• hydrolyte
• hydrolytic
• hydrolytically
• hydrolase
• hydrolysate

Related words

• hydrolyze
• analysis
• paralysis
• electrolysis
• lose

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
8. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins